Meaning & Origins

Of uncertain derivation. Stacey and Stace are recorded as given names in the Middle Ages, probably pet forms of Eustace. The medieval name seems to have fallen out of use by the 16th century, and the modern given name is probably a transferred use of the surname, which is likewise derived from Eustace. It is not clear why this name should have become so common in the 1970s and 80s as a girl's name (less commonly as a boy's name).

English, Scottish, German, and Dutch: from Horn 1 with the agent suffix -er; an occupational name for someone who made or sold small articles made of horn, a metonymic occupational name for someone who played a musical instrument made from the horn of an animal, or a topographic name for someone who lived at a ‘horn’ of land.